Croatian police have no information about the presence or activity of any illegal Chinese police stations in Zagreb or Croatia, the Croatian Ministry of the Interior said on Sunday after the US broadcasting network CNN ran a story on the presence of Chinese police in at least 53 countries across the world, including Croatia.

Citing the non-governmental organisation Safeguard Defenders, which monitors the human rights situation in China, CNN said that Beijing has set up more than 100 so-called overseas police stations across the globe to monitor, harass and in some cases repatriate Chinese citizens living in exile.

China is doing that based on bilateral security arrangements struck with countries in Europe, including Italy, Croatia, Serbia and Romania, and in Africa, the US broadcaster said.

The Croatian ministry said that Chinese police officers had stayed in Croatia only to facilitate communication with Chinese tourists, describing the cooperation with China as professional and positive.

“The Police Directorate has no information, either from its own sources or from the agencies it collaborates with, about the presence or activity of illegal police stations in Zagreb or Croatia,” Interior Ministry spokeswoman Jelena Bikić told Hina.

She added that based on bilateral agreements, Chinese police officers had stayed in Croatia for a month to facilitate communication between their Croatian colleagues and Chinese tourists.

Chinese police have been participating in the Croatian “Safe Tourist Destination” project since 2018, when six Chinese police officers stayed in Croatia. Eight officers visited Croatia in 2019 and 2022, while in 2020 and 2021 Chinese police did not take part in the project.

Where necessary, police cooperation is maintained via the Chinese attache for military and police cooperation at the Chinese Embassy in Zagreb. “We can describe our overall cooperation as professional and positive,” Bikić said.